Joachim Löw says he won’t use Bayern players for Germany in Nations League

With several players from the German national team involved in the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and (potentially) Paris Saint-Germain, Joachim Löw has confirmed that he will not select these players for Die Mannshcaft’s the next UEFA Nations League matches. Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry and Manuel Neuer will all have extra time to rest and recharge and will not be part of the Nations League (Dfb) squad.

Even though he still plans to forgive the players involved in the Champions League final, he still wants to wait until the end of the game to announce the squad for the national team. He said: “We are deliberately waiting until the end of the Champions League final to announce the squad – we will do that next Tuesday. We give the final and the teams playing it the respect they deserve. In my opinion, this competition and these teams deserve everyone’s attention. The focus will be on the national team in September. ”

Löw went on to explain this approach; “The way I approach my plans is this: players overworked by the resumption of the Bundesliga will not be chosen for the September team, nor will those who took part in the Champions League tournament in Lisbon. We want to give them the time they need to recover. “

For players like Leroy Sané, Niklas Sule, Julian Draxler and Thilo Kehrer, Low said the situation could be different from them as they all worked on injuries: “The situation can be a little different for Julian Draxler and Thilo Kehrer, both playing for PSG, and for Leroy Sané and Niklas Süle. All of them suffered injuries and they all had spells they didn’t play regularly. They must find their rhythm, both in training and in matches.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images

Of course, Löw has a lot to consider. Truncated competition schedules due to the coronavirus pandemic have made things increasingly difficult to balance. Löw wants to give players who haven’t played much a chance to find their form ahead of next summer’s European Championships and wants to give players who have been playing a lot lately time to rest and recover without to overdo. It is a difficult balance for him to find jobs with such congested national and European schedules.

During their last Nations League outing, Germany did rather poorly and it was following the fall of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Löw said he was ready to work with a slightly weakened team in September and October, although that is certainly not the terminology he used: “I made this decision because I am responsible for take care of my players. This is one of my highest priorities. With the national team, I’ve always had to find the right balance between challenging my players and not working them too hard. This is nothing new – player health has always counted. We have always taken into consideration the requirements that we place on individual players, and that has not changed. The players chosen to play in September will receive our full attention. Maybe they will take their chance and open the door to more regular playing time. We said after the 2018 World Cup that we wanted to create room for young players, so that they could join us and develop further. We are sticking to this plan and not rejecting it anytime soon.

Photo by Federico Gambarini / Picture Alliance via Getty Images